Just so you are aware the government has been coddling us with welfare and government assistance programs since before the US even won its independence. In fact the government of every great country in the world has welfare/government assistance. Germany, France, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Italy, japan, Canada, and on and on. Even back in the day of the Roman empire they gave food for free to those who couldn't afford it.
The Song dynasty government (c.1000AD in China) supported multiple programs which could be classified as social welfare, including the establishment of retirement homes, public clinics, and paupers' graveyards.
Early welfare programs in Europe included the English Poor Law of 1601, which gave parishes the responsibility for providing welfare payments to the poor. It was predominantly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that an organized system of state welfare provision was introduced in many countries. Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, introduced one of the first welfare systems for the working classes. In Great Britain the Liberal government of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and David Lloyd George introduced the National Insurance system in 1911, a system later expanded by Clement Attlee.
In the Islamic world, Zakat (charity), one of the Five Pillars of Islam, has been collected by the government since the time of the Rashidun caliph Umar in the 7th century. The taxes were used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali (Algazel, 1058–1111), the government was also expected to store up food supplies in every region in case a disaster or famine occurred.
Interestingly enough when bill clinton (a democrat lol) was in office he reformed welfare big time and actually gave money to each individual state to handle welfare on their own. Each state must meet certain criteria to ensure recipients are being encouraged to work themselves out of Welfare. The new program is called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It encourages states to require some sort of employment search in exchange for providing funds to individuals, and imposes a five-year lifetime limit on cash assistance. In fiscal year 2010, 31.8% of TANF families were white, 31.9% were African-American, and 30.0% were Hispanic.
Seems like it is, and has always been, the government's job to coddle its citizens who need coddling, to some extent.